Walking Tacos

OK, Hummie...you ask...you receive! Walking tacos...yummy...kid friendly and oh, so easy!

You simply take individual size bags of Doritos, and squeeze the bag so the chips are crushed a little bit. Then, cut the bag open on the LONG side (not the top where you normally open the bag.) Fill with a plop of taco meat, and hand over to the person who wants to eat it. They can add other taco toppings like lettuce, cheese, tomato, onion, salsa, and/or sour cream. Eat it out of the bag with a plastic fork, (while walking around...hence the name...WALKING Taco. ) (Unless you are being served this for lunch in the cafeteria...the cooks kinda frown on kids walking around while eating lunch in the cafeteria.)

Around here, this is a huge food item at football/basketball concession stands, graduation parties, etc. Cameron will be Confirmed in April, and this is the meal he has requested for his Confirmation dinner. Kind of different, BUT...it IS his party, right?

Let me know if any of you make these, and how they are received. I can almost guarantee that they are gonna be a HIT!

Music, Music, Music

It's a busy weekend filled with important contests for Caleb! He plays the sax for jazz band, and they had State Contest in Sumner at the high school today. They played at 8:00 am! YIKES that was early, but they sounded awesome! After playing, they had to do a sight reading test...he said it all went well. They got a Division II rating, which was good, but they were really hoping for a I!

Then, at 9:20, the Sumner-Fredericksburg Sensations, (swing choir) had their State contest performance. Caleb plays the valve trombone for that. The choir got a Division I rating! They were AWESOME!!! I love show choir performances. He and I stayed to watch until about noon.

Had to hurry home when we got a phone call from Rachel that Ethan had been bitten by his hamster Chippy. He was sore and bleeding, but mostly...sad that his beloved pet would do that to him! All is well now!

Ron headed to Camp IO-DIS-E-CA to take the junior high youth for their retreat. He has other chaperones, so he just had to drive down there. Cameron was excited about the event, and looking forward to tomorrow's Snow Olympics! BRRRRRR!

Off to make walking tacos for supper :) MMMMM.

Snow, Snow, Snow

Once again, the kids are thrilled with the 4-5 inches of snow that fell early this morning and throughout the day! It was a light and fluffy snow, fortunately for Caleb and Cameron who had to shovel it!

Church had a slim crowd today, due to all the snow that fell. Ron went part way to West Union for the 8 am service, and turned around and came home. The roads were not good enough for him to continue on!

Services were very nice, and we came home and had honey glazed ham, mashed potatoes and corn. A yummy Sunday dinner. The kids enjoyed playing in the snow and watching movies. The only disappointment about the snow is that it didn't wait 12-24 hours so they'd get a Snow Day out of it! :)

Caleb and Cameron have done a good job of shoveling this year! (of course, we've only had snow TWO times! Caleb worked hard at getting the driveway cleaned off this afternoon! Thanks, boys!


The kids are SO anxious to go sledding, but we just don't have a place for it around here! We may try to go and visit some friends next weekend that have a nice, very hilly, back yard! Rachel had a fun time making SNOW ANGELS this week! Here's some of her artwwork!

TGIF!

It's Friday, and we all survived a week without the man of the house around. We miss him terribly and will be glad when he gets home late tonight!

Caleb has all the paperwork ready for him to get his school permit, allowing him to drive to and from school without an adult. Shall I count my gray hairs NOW, and then compare them to how many I have after he's made the road trip a few times? NOT ready to have a driver! And next month, Cameron turns 14, which means we'll have a second kid with a drivers permit! YIKES! How old am I again?? Caleb also has been stressed over getting his school schedule worked out for the next two years. He finally turned it in this week, and seems to be feeling pretty good about it.

Cameron got great news this week! He was accepted into the Tri-State Honor band! We are thrilled for him...what an honor. Now...to practice! He also had 2 basketball games this week. Yesterday the middle school had a field trip to the Gallagher-Bluedorn Theater associated with UNI in Cedar Falls. I was a sub for the day, so got to attend, too. It was a 1 hour play on the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. QUITE good! After the 1 hour bus ride there, 1 hour play, and then an hour ride back to school, Cameron and the bball team got BACK on a bus and drove an hour + to Postville for their game. Cameron said they won by over 50 points, so he got lots of playing time ;-). It was 8:45 til he got home for supper...he was HUNGRY!

Rachel had piano and spent lots of time outside playing in the snow this week! And Ethan had Scouts, and, the homebody that he is, just wanted to veg out at home most of the week. They did both go to Cameron's ball game on Tuesday night...under duress!

Haven't posted a recipe lately, but here's a GREAT one....it is DELICIOUS with pretzels dipped in it, or as a spread on a chicken or ham sandwich. Once I start, I can't STOP eating this stuff. mmmm. I got this recipe from a friend at school, who got it from yet another friend :)

Mustard Dip

1 small bottle of yellow mustard
1 pint sour cream
1 pint Mayo (I use miracle whip)
2 packages of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix, dry
1 cup sugar
3 Tablespoons horseradish (NOT SAUCE)
2-3 T. dry minced onions

Blend it all together in a large bowl. Chill and ENJOY!

Let it SNOW!!

or not....I just said that 'cause my kids are SO happy to finally have snow here in NE Iowa! They've been waiting all winter for the white stuff to come down from the sky! It wasn't a "snow day" technically, because there was no school today anyway, due to teacher inservice. So the four kids enjoyed sleeping in, and then playing in the snow. We had to dig out all the hats, boots, coats, gloves and snowpants...a HUGE task. The good news is that there were hand me downs or stored stuff for everyone to get by for today! Even KT the dog got in on some of the snow fun! They all played outside for quite some time, and then had to come in and enjoy some hot cocoa, of course! After the paper route today, we all headed out to the farm fleet store for snowboots and snowpants for Cameron...the only winter supplies we needed to purchase this year! Woo HOO!
Then we shopped at Pamida for a while, and then enjoyed a dinner at Subway. (anyone guess who is gone on a trip this week? LOL...RON...that's why we got to go to SUBWAY! ) We miss him, but we have lots and lots to do this week, so I'm sure the time will go quickly til he's home again!

A good day for us all, even if it WAS bitter cold and snowy!

Happy 2007!!!

It's been a while, huh? December is gone?!?! How did THAT happen? Ugh...I spent at least 2 weeks of the month really sick. And the rest was just busy, busy, busy!

Christmas with the family was lots of fun. The kids were thrilled with their gifts. A HIGHLIGHT of the Christmas holiday was when Caleb and Cameron and I got to go to a St. Louis Rams/Minnesota Vikings game!!! Go RAMS!!! That was so much fun. None of us had ever been to an NFL game, and the boys are such HUGE Rams fans that it was incredibly fun for ME to watch them watch the game. The final score of 41-21 Rams, was the icing on the cake.




While Caleb and Cameron received tickets to the game for Christmas, Rachel and Ethan were given a day of unlimited rides at the Mall of America. Ron's folks joined us for Monday's adventures at the MOA. We all had lots of fun there. There was so much to see and do! The food was yummy, and we all found a couple of things that we "needed". Of course, the no tax on clothing in Minnesota was a guarantee that we'd come home with some clothing for the kids, at least.

It was a great get-away, and we are glad it all went so smoothly. There WAS one glitch in the whole trip, after we stopped at a rest area. We climbed back in the car, drove away, and an HOUR later, Ron's cell phone rang and he heard his 11 year old daughter say "Daddy. You left me at the rest area!" Oh, the horror we felt. We praise GOD for the custodian working at the rest stop who made sure she was taken care of, and the MN Highway patrol who brought her partway back so that we could be reunited quicker. God was watching over her for those few hours!

Now we're all back to school/work/subbing and trying to find out what "normal" means again!